3D Printing: How Sugar is Transforming Nursing Education

At Thomas Jefferson University College of Nursing, the challenges that the changing healthcare landscape present inspire us to transform the way we educate tomorrow’s healthcare leaders. As it turns out, some of the most important approaches involve sugar.

The focal point of our College’s Dixon campus in suburban Horsham, PA, is the large-scale, state-of-the-art Raynier Institute & Foundation Center for Advanced Education, Simulation & Innovation Center. It serves as an incubator, fostering creative technological applications that have the potential to transform the educational process. Undergraduate and graduate students engage in complex clinical scenarios that parallel, anticipate, and amplify real-life situations at the next level. Expert simulation faculty create engaging and realistic experiences that accentuate what students learn in the classroom.

In keeping with the Jefferson College of Nursing’s commitment to amplifying technology, the Dixon campus is equipped with two state-of-the-art 3D printers that produce a wide range of sophisticated learning tools and task trainers used to practice invasive skills in simulated settings. The filaments we use in our 3D printing, known as polylactic acid (PLA), are derived from sugar, a renewable and biodegradable resource. 3D printing is inexpensive, environmentally friendly, and easily adopted.

The use cases for 3D printing within our curriculum are widespread and integrated throughout our academic programs, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. With 3D printing technology, anatomical and other learning models make learning skills more accessible and realistic. The key to providing these simulated but realistic experiences is life-like replicas created using 3D technology at the College’s Dixon campus. The result enables us to simulate specific skills needed in the field within a safe and secure learning environment.

For instance, 3D-printed uterine models allow nurse practitioner students to practice endometrial biopsies of cervical polyps. Tracheal models facilitate nurse anesthesia students’ mastery of emergency cricothyrotomy, a procedure that creates an airway for a patient in life-threatening situations. Additionally, neonatal nurse practitioner students use 3D-printed premature infant rib cages to serve as chest tube task trainers.

Prior to the in-house creation of these task training tools, we had difficulty obtaining them in the numbers needed due to supply shortages (especially during COVID-19) or cost. The cost of a task trainer produced at Dixon is relatively low – $25 to $100, compared to costs of several hundred to thousands of dollars from outside vendors.

Few nursing schools in the country have this extremely useful device to develop affordable training tools. At Jefferson College of Nursing, we aim to be a leader in academic technology. Our goal is to reimagine the way we educate nurses so they are ready to lead and impact society from day one.